Show Holiglons l1mbu There is a good deal of comment over the placing of Dr Honry P Smith of Cincinnati Cincin-nati on trial for heresy Comparisons are drawn between this proceeding and the placing of horeties in jeooardy in the dark times when conviction meant imprison mentor ment-or death That is i all nonsense and folly No matter what may be the result of Dr Smiths arraignment he will not bo made to suffer in life or limb or property His will not be a criminal trial The tribunal will not be even of a civil character It will be purely ecclesiastical and without I punitive power or authority Therois a great deal of sympathy wasted over preachers who are out oi harmony with the creeds of the sects to which they belong When u minister casts oil some i dogma or tenet which is held by the church he Is engaged to represent and there is a probability of his being brought to account for his heresy ho imme I diately becomes an object of sympathy for I admiring women and tenderhearted men and is looked upon as a victim of intolerance intoler-ance Everything done by the authorities of tho church is denounced as persecution This is in the highest degree absurd There is nothing in this free country to prevent any man from advocating any doo trine or theory in which he may believe if ho can get people to listen to him Freedom Free-dom of speech and of the press is permitted per-mitted by the law to the utmost proper limit Heresy is as free as orthodoxy so far as that is concernod And one is no more entitled to commiseration than the other But why should a Presbyterian clergyman clergy-man as in the case of Dr SMITH claim the right or be permitted to advocate in the Presbyterian pulpit and under Presbyterian Presby-terian authority doctrines which are at variance with the Presbyterian creed If ho dissents from the articles of faith which be is hired to disseminate why should he not come out of the church which holds to them and promulgate his opinions independently inde-pendently or join some other body more in harmony with his ideas We do not believe in the sham martyrdom martyr-dom which tiese modern heretics are supposed sup-posed to suffer They ought not to pose as ministers of a church whose doctrines they do not believe nor wish to retain a position which they cannot conscientiously occupy There is variety enough in the religious re-ligious arena for the advocates of almost any religious theory socts enough to take in nearly every vagary of the religious mind And if not the world is wide and open to new flights of thought and new sectarian ventures Presbyterianism has a recognized creed Its ministers should cling to it or revise it There appears to be good cause for modifications modi-fications of its tenets That however must be done if at all by common consent of the body No man clothed in its ministerial minis-terial robes has tho right under that garb to oppose its estabhshei principles If he cannot convince his associates that ho is right he should step down and out and carry his views elsewhere If he will not but persists in bio dissent and in holding position he ough to be expelled after fair trial and conviction The question of right or wrong in doctrine doc-trine cuts no figure in this argument Dr SMITH may have the truth on his side or he may not That is not the question It is the occupancy of a Presbyterian pulpit for the promulgation of ideas that are not endorsed en-dorsed by the Presbyterian body No man has the right to make such a position a cover for the undermining of the creed he is pledged to support and any assumption of martyrdom when he is exposed and cast out is nothing but religious humbug |